The King's Achievement

  CHAPTER VIII

  RALPH'S RETURN

  The Visitation of Lewes Priory occupied a couple of days, as the estateswere so vast, and the account-books so numerous.

  In the afternoon following the scene in the chapter-house, Dr. Laytonand Ralph rode out to inspect some of the farms that were at hand,leaving orders that the stock was to be driven up into the court thenext day, and did not return till dusk. The excitement in the town wastremendous as they rode back through the ill-lighted streets, and as therumour ran along who the great gentlemen were that went along so gailywith their servants behind them; and by the time that they reached thepriory-gate there was a considerable mob following in their train,singing and shouting, in the highest spirits at the thought of theplunder that would probably fall into their hands.

  Layton turned in his saddle at the door, and made them a little speech,telling them how he was there with the authority of the King's Grace,and would soon make a sweep of the place.

  "And there will be pickings," he cried, "pickings for us all! The widowand the orphan have been robbed long enough; it is time to spoil thefathers."

  There was a roar of amusement from the mob; and a shout or two wasraised for the King's Grace.

  "You must be patient," cried Dr. Layton, "and then no more taxes. Youcan trust us, gentlemen, to do the King's work as it should be done."

  As he passed in through the lamp-lit entrance he turned to Ralph again.

  "You see, Mr. Torridon, we have the country behind us."

  * * * * *

  It was that evening that Ralph for the first time since the quarrel methis brother face to face.

  He was passing through the cloister on his way to Dr. Layton's room, andcame past the refectory door just as the monks were gathering forsupper. He glanced in as he went, and had a glimpse of the clean solemnhall, lighted with candles along the panelling, the long bare tableslaid ready, the Prior's chair and table at the further end and the greatfresco over it. A lay brother or two in aprons were going about theirbusiness silently, and three or four black figures, who had alreadyentered, stood motionless along the raised dais on which the tablesstood.

  The monks had all stopped instantly as Ralph came among them, and hadlowered their hoods with their accustomed courtly deference to a guest;and as he turned from his momentary pause at the refectory door in thefull blaze of light that shone from it, he met Chris face to face.

  The young monk had come up that instant, not noticing who was there, andhis hood was still over his head. There was a second's pause, and thenhe lifted his hand and threw the hood back in salutation; and as Ralphbowed and passed on he had a moment's sight of that thin face and thelarge grey eyes in which there was not the faintest sign of recognition.

  Ralph's heart was hot with mingled emotion as he went up the cloister.He was more disturbed by the sudden meeting, the act of courtesy, andthe cold steady eyes of this young fool of a brother than he cared torecognise.

  He saw no more of him, except in the distance among his fellows; and heleft the house the next day when the business was done.

  * * * * *

  Matters in the rest of England were going forward with the samepromptitude as in Sussex. Dr. Layton himself had visited the Westearlier in the autumn, and the other Visitors were busy in other partsof the country. The report was current now that the resources of all theReligious Houses were to be certainly confiscated, and that those of theinmates who still persisted in their vocation would have to do so underthe most rigorous conditions imaginable. The results were to be seen inthe enormous increase of beggars, deprived now of the hospitality theywere accustomed to receive; and the roads everywhere were thronged withthose who had been holders of corrodies, or daily sustenance in thehouses; as well as with the evicted Religious, some of whom, dismissedagainst their will, were on their way to the universities, where, inspite of the Visitation, it was thought that support was still to behad; and others, less reputable, who preferred freedom to monasticdiscipline. Yet others were to be met with, though not many in number,who were on their way to London to lay complaints of various kindsagainst their superiors.

  From these and like events the whole country was astir. Men gathered ingroups outside the village inns and discussed the situation, and feelingran high on the movements of the day. What chiefly encouraged themalcontents was the fact that the benefits to be gained by thedissolution of the monasteries were evident and present, while theill-results lay in the future. The great Religious Houses, their farmsand stock, the jewels of the treasury, were visible objects; menactually laid eyes on them as they went to and from their work or kneltat mass on Sundays; it was all so much wealth that did not belong tothem, and that might do so, while the corrodies, the daily hospitality,the employment of labour, and such things, lay either out of sight, oraffected only certain individuals. Characters too that were chieflystirred by such arguments, were those of the noisy and self-assertivefaction; while those who saw a little deeper into things, and understoodthe enormous charities of the Religious Houses and the manner in whichextreme poverty was kept in check by them,--even more, those who valuedthe spiritual benefits that flowed from the fact of their existence, andsaw how life was kindled and inspired by these vast homes ofprayer--such, then as always, were those who would not voluntarily putthemselves forward in debate, or be able, when they did so, to usearguments that would appeal to the village gatherings. Their naturalleaders too, the country clergy, who alone might have pointed outeffectively the considerations that lay beneath the surface had beenskilfully and peremptorily silenced by the episcopal withdrawing of allpreaching licenses.

  * * * * *

  In the course of Ralph's travels he came across, more than once, a hotscene in the village inn, and was able to use his own personality andprestige as a King's Visitor in the direction that he wished.

  He came for example one Saturday night to the little village ofMaresfield, near Fletching, and after seeing his horses and servantsbestowed, came into the parlour, where the magnates were assembled.There were half a dozen there, sitting round the fire, who roserespectfully as the great gentleman strode in, and eyed him with asudden awe as they realised from the landlord's winks and whispers thathe was of a very considerable importance.

  From the nature of his training Ralph had learnt how to deal with allconditions of men; and by the time that he had finished supper, anddrawn his chair to the fire, they were talking freely again, as indeedhe had encouraged them to do, for they did not of course, any more thanthe landlord, guess at his identity or his business there.

  Ralph soon brought the talk round again to the old subject, and askedthe opinions of the company as to the King's policy in the visitation ofthe Religious Houses There was a general silence when he first openedthe debate, for they were dangerous times; but the gentleman's ownimperturbable air, his evident importance, and his friendliness,conspired with the strong beer to open their mouths, and in five minutesthey were at it.

  One, a little old man in the corner who sat with crossed legs, nursinghis mug, declared that to his mind the whole thing was sacrilege; thehouses, he said, had been endowed to God's glory and service, and thatto turn them to other uses must bring a curse on the country. He went onto remark--for Ralph deftly silenced the chorus of protest--that his ownpeople had been buried in the church of the Dominican friars at Arundelfor three generations, and that he was sorry for the man who laid handson the tomb of his grandfather--known as Uncle John--for the old man hadbeen a desperate churchman in his day, and would undoubtedly revengehimself for any indignity offered to his bones.

  Ralph pointed out, with a considerate self-repression, that theillustration was scarcely to the point, for the King's Grace had nointention, he believed, of disturbing any one's bones; the question atissue rather regarded flesh and blood. Then a chorus broke out, and thehunt was up.

  One, the butcher, with many blessings invoked
on King Harry's head,declared that the country was being sucked dry by these rapaciousecclesiastics; that the monks encroached every year on the common land,absorbed the little farms, paid inadequate wages, and--which appearedhis principal grievance--killed their own meat.

  Ralph, with praiseworthy tolerance, pushed this last argument aside, butappeared to reflect on the others as if they were new to him, though hehad heard them a hundred times, and used them fifty; and while heweighed them, another took up the tale; told a scandalous story or two,and asked how men who lived such lives as these which he related, couldbe examples of chastity.

  Once more the little old man burst into the fray, and waving his pot inan access of religious enthusiasm, rebuked the last speaker for hisreadiness to pick up dirt, and himself instanced five or six Religiousknown to him, whose lives were no less spotless than his own.

  Again Ralph interposed in his slow voice, and told them that that toowas not the point at issue. The question was not as to whether here andthere monks lived good lives or bad, for no one was compelled to imitateeither, but as to whether on the whole the existence of the ReligiousHouses was profitable in such practical matters as agriculture, trade,and the relief of the destitute.

  And so it went on, and Ralph began to grow weary of the inconsequence ofthe debaters, and their entire inability to hold to the salient points;but he still kept his hand on the rudder of the discussion, avoided thefogs of the supernatural and religious on the one side towards which thelittle old man persisted in pushing, and, on the other, the blunt viewsof the butcher and the man who had told the foul stories; and contentedhimself with watching and learning the opinion of the company ratherthan contributing his own.

  Towards the end of the evening he observed two of his men, who hadslipped in and were sitting at the back of the little stifling room,hugely enjoying the irony of the situation, and determined on ending thediscussion with an announcement of his own identity.

  Presently an opportunity occurred. The little old man had shown adangerous tendency to discourse on the suffering souls in purgatory, andon the miseries inflicted on them by the cessation of masses andsuffrages for their welfare; and an uncomfortable awe-stricken silencehad fallen on the others.

  Ralph stood up abruptly, and began to speak, his bright tired eyesshining down on the solemn faces, and his mouth set and precise.

  "Well, gentlemen," he said, "your talk has pleased me very much. I havelearned a great deal, and I hope shall profit by it. Some of you havetalked a quantity of nonsense; and you, Mr. Miggers, have talked themost, about your uncle John's soul and bones."

  A deadly silence fell as these startling words were pronounced; for hismanner up to now had been conciliatory and almost apologetic. But hewent on imperturbably.

  "I am quite sure that Almighty God knows His business better than you orI, Mr. Miggers; and if He cannot take care of Uncle John without the aidof masses or dirges sung by fat-bellied monks--"

  He stopped abruptly, and a squirt of laughter burst from the butcher.

  "Well, this is my opinion," went on Ralph, "if you wish to know it. Ido not think, or suspect, as some of you do--but I _know_--as you willallow presently that I do, when I tell you who I am--I _know_ that thesehouses of which we have been speaking, are nothing better thanwasps'-nests. The fellows look holy enough in their liveries, they makea deal of buzz, they go to and fro as if on business; but they make nohoney that is worth your while or mine to take. There is but one thingthat they have in their holes that is worth anything: and that is theirjewels and their gold, and the lead on their churches and the bells intheir towers. And all that, by the Grace of God we will soon have out ofthem."

  There was a faint murmur of mingled applause and dissent. Mr. Miggersstared vacant-faced at this preposterous stranger, and set his mugresolutely down as a preparation for addressing him, but he had noopportunity. Ralph was warmed now by his own eloquence, and swept on.

  "You think I do not know of what I am speaking? Well, I have a brother amonk at Lewes, and a sister a nun at Rusper; and I have been brought upin this religion until I am weary of it. My sister--well, she is likeother maidens of her kind--not a word to speak of any matter but ourLady and the Saints and how many candles Saint Christopher likes. And mybrother!--Well, we can leave that.

  "I know these houses as none of you know them; I know how much wine theydrink, how much they charge for their masses, how much treasonablechatter they carry on in private--I know their lives as I know my own;and I know that they are rotten and useless altogether. They may give aplateful or two in charity and a mug of beer; they gorge ten dishesthemselves, and swill a hogshead. They give a penny to the poor man, andkeep twenty nobles for themselves. They take field after field, houseafter house; turn the farmer into the beggar, and the beggar into theirbedesman. And, by God! I say that the sooner King Henry gets rid of thecrew, the better for you and me!"

  Ralph snapped out the last words, and stared insolently down on thegaping faces. Then he finished, standing by the door as he did so, withhis hand on the latch.

  "If you would know how I know all this, I will tell you. My name isTorridon, of Overfield; and I am one of the King's Visitors. Good-night,gentlemen."

  There was the silence of the grave within, as Ralph went upstairssmiling to himself.

  * * * * *

  Ralph had intended returning home a week or two after the Lewesvisitation, but there was a good deal to be done, and Layton had pointedout to him that even if some houses were visited twice over it would dono harm to the rich monks to pay double fees; so it was not tillChristmas was a week away that he rode at last up to his house-door atWestminster.

  His train had swelled to near a dozen men and horses by now, for he hadaccumulated a good deal of treasure beside that which he had left inLayton's hands, and it would not have been safe to travel with a smallerescort; so it was a gay and imposing cavalcade that clattered throughthe narrow streets. Ralph himself rode in front, in solitary dignity,his weapon jingling at his stirrup, his feather spruce and bright abovehis spare keen face; a couple of servants rode behind, fully armed andformidable looking, and then the train came behind--beasts piled withbundles that rustled and clinked suggestively, and the men who guardedthem gay with scraps of embroidery and a cheap jewel or two here andthere in their dress.

  But Ralph did not feel so gallant as he looked. During these longcountry rides he had had too much time to think, and the thought ofBeatrice and of what she would say seldom left him. The very harshnessof his experiences, the rough faces round him, the dialect of the stableand the inn, the coarse conversation--all served to make her image themore gracious and alluring. It was a kind of worship, shot with passion,that he felt for her. Her grave silences coincided with his own, hertenderness yielded deliciously to his strength.

  As he sat over his fire with his men whispering behind him, planning asthey thought new assaults on the rich nests that they all hated andcoveted together, again and again it was Beatrice's face, and not thatof a shrewd or anxious monk, that burned in the red heart of the hearth.He had seen it with downcast eyes, with the long lashes lying on thecheek, and the curved red lips discreetly shut beneath; the masses ofblack hair shadowed the forehead and darkened the secret that he wishedto read. Or he had watched her, like a jewel in a pig-sty, lookingacross the foul-littered farm where he had had to sleep more than oncewith his men about him; her black eyes looking into his own with tendergravity, and her mouth trembling with speech. Or best of all, as he rodealong the bitter cold lanes at the fall of the day, the crowding yewsabove him had parted and let her stand there, with her long skirtsrustling in the dry leaves, her slender figure blending with thedarkness, and her sweet face trusting and loving him out of the gloom.

  And then again, like the prick of a wound, the question had touched him,how would she receive him when he came back with the monastic spoils onhis beasts' shoulders, and the wail of the nuns shrilling like the windbehind?

  But b
y the time that he came back to London he had thought out hismethod of meeting her. Probably she had had news of the doings of theVisitors, perhaps of his own in particular; it was hardly possible thathis father had not written; she would ask for an explanation, and sheshould have instead an appeal to her confidence. He would tell her thatsad things had indeed happened, that he had been forced to be present atand even to carry out incidents which he deplored; but that he had donehis utmost to be merciful. It was rough work, he would say; but it waswork that had to be done; and since that was so--and this was Cromwell'steaching--it was better that honourable gentlemen should do it. He hadnot been able always to restrain the violence of his men--and for thathe needed forgiveness from her dear lips; and it would be easy enough totell stories against him that it would be hard to disprove; but if sheloved and trusted him, and he knew that she did, let her take his wordfor it that no injustice had been deliberately done, that on the otherhand he had been the means under God of restraining many such acts, andthat his conscience was clear.

  It was a moving appeal, Ralph thought, and it almost convinced himself.He was not conscious of any gross insincerity in the defence; of courseit was shaded artistically, and the more brutal details kept out ofsight, but in the main it was surely true. And, as he rehearsed itspoints to himself once more in the streets of Westminster, he felt thatthough there might be a painful moment or two, yet it would do his work.

  * * * * *

  He had sent a message home that he was coming, and the door of his homewas wide as he dismounted, and the pleasant light of candles shone out,for the evening was smouldering to dark in the west.

  A crowd had collected as he went along; from every window faces wereleaning; and as he stood on the steps directing the removal of thetreasure into the house, he saw that the mob filled the tiny street, andthe cobbled space, from side to side. They were chiefly of the idlingclass, folks who had little to do but to follow up excitements andshout; and there were a good many cries raised for the King's Grace andhis Visitors, for such people as these were greedy for any movement thatmight bring them gain, and the Religious Houses were beginning to bemore unpopular in town than ever.

  One of the bundles slipped as it was shifted, the cord came off, and ina moment the little space beyond the mule before the door was coveredwith gleaming stuff and jewels.

  There was a fierce scuffle and a cry, and Ralph was in a moment beyondthe mule with his sword out. He said nothing but stood there fierce andalert as the crowd sucked back, and the servant gathered up the things.There was no more trouble, for it had only been a spasmodic snatch atthe wealth, and a cheer or two was raised again among the grimy facesthat stared at the fine gentleman and the shining treasure.

  Ralph thought it better, however, to say a conciliatory word when thethings had been bestowed in the house, and the mules led away; and hestood on the steps a moment alone before entering himself.

  The crowd listened complacently enough to the statements which they hadbegun to believe from the fact of the incessant dinning of them intotheir ears by the selected preachers at Paul's Cross and elsewhere; andthere was loud groan at the Pope's name.

  Ralph was ending with an incise peroration that he had delivered morethan once before.

  "You know all this, good people; and you shall know it better when thework is done. Instead of the rich friars and monks we will have godlycitizens, each with his house and land. The King's Grace has promisedit, and you know that he keeps his word. We have had enough of thejackdaws and their stolen goods; we will have honest birds instead. Onlybe patient a little longer--"

  The listening silence was broken by a loud cry--

  "You damned plundering hound--"

  A stone suddenly out of the gloom whizzed past Ralph and crashed throughthe window behind. A great roaring rose in a moment, and the crowdswayed and turned.

  Ralph felt his heart suddenly quicken, and his hand flew to his hiltagain, but there was no need for him to act. There were terrible screamsalready rising from the seething twilight in front, as the stone-throwerwas seized and trampled. He stayed a moment longer, dropped his hilt andwent into the house.